"Then that is settled.", Giegue says to Niiue, and Elfilin may just see the smallest hints of a slightly smug smirk on his face. Just a extra tiny bit of proof that Niiue is right, that he's not as bad as his intimidating features make him appear to be. He's clearly pleased that Elfilin has trust in his idea.
"Then how about this for a plan? We make our way back now, we get you introduced to the rest of my shanty crew, and then you can get something to eat or some rest if you need either of that.", Niiue suggests to Elfilin. "I could try to travel around a bit more and see if I find any other animals that feel similar to that gorilla from just now. If we know where the beast pack are, we know which locations to avoid."
Edited by DevilPsyco on Apr 19th 2022 at 1:32:03 PM
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.The two aliens nod and Niiue leads the way, with Giegue floating behind Elfilin as to prevent possible ambushes. It doesn't really matter that Niiue can't protect them from the front, since an ambush from the front would be a stupid idea anyway.
Edited by DevilPsyco on Apr 19th 2022 at 1:32:15 PM
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay."There isn't a sequence just dont let her kill Neuff!"
Green's leaps high up after Zeeroe. If Luffy's grabbed her by then she stands between them and Neuff as a blockade instead. Otherwise she tries tackling her mid-flight to embrace Zeeroe. Lightning spreads to Green's limbs as she paralyzes her own arms to lock both of them in place.
real"Metroid? Interesting."
He says curiously, glancing at the hate-filled creature. Looking back to the monitor tracking the starfighter, he stares at it for a moment. The ship didn't look dangerous in the slightest. However, the pilot certainly was, especially to elicit such a response from the Metroid.
He reconsidered an attempt to blow the ship to pieces for a moment, letting out a low grumble.
"I will give you the courtesy of assuming your threats are more than empty Raven Beak, however, you will receive no such information. Even if I were to offer you a bone as it were, my methods are beyond your capabilities."
He says, pausing for a moment.
"Fortunately, I am willing to reach a fair agreement. That is if you have something of equal value to offer me."
"oh right"
Neuff teleports out as soon as Luffy catches Zeeroe.
" o b s t r u c t i o n . n e w e n e m i e s . "
A dark spot then appears underneath Luffy from which she erupts perfectly intact, trying to grab him and pull him down into the all-consuming abyss.
<I know much else about Metroids. Their life cycle, their behaviors, their favorite prey... I even know how to control their killer instinct.>
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."........... That's gross! Luffy ponders, using his Combat Clairvoyance again to try to see what's gonna happen. When Zeeroe emerges, clad in a dark portal, he does a Oh, Crap! as he gets grabbed.
I think I made a big mistake! he acknowledges. Zeeroe is too strong for Luffy to overpower directly, but he has the time, with his future sight, to raise his arm so as to prevent her from grabbing it. He then proceeds to bite into said arm to activate GEAR FOURTH, attempting to use the sudden expanse to break free.
BOUNDMAN! Luffy attempts to punch Zeeroe in the face back into the portal. But if she can successfully stop Boundman from freeing Luffy, then he can only struggle forth as she brings him into her place!
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterRaven Beak hadn't caught Laxin's attention until the last few words. Again, he looks at the Metroid and raises a hand to it. The creature is drawn closer, forced to be less erratic with its movement.
"I would doubt such a claim, were it not for the Metroid's sudden.. rage."
He said, staring closely at the Metroid. His brow furrowed, showing his suspicion of Raven Beak. Though the potential usefulness of knowledge regarding Metroids is too valuable. The sith clears his throat, opening a broadcast to the ship.
"Open Docking Bay Twenty-Four and prepare an escort to the bridge immediately. I repeat, open docking bay twenty-four and prepare an escort to the bridge immediately."
He said sternly, closing the broadcast. Turning his attention back to Raven Beak's communication, the sith speaks again.
"We should discuss this face to face, a forcefield should be lowering momentarily. Dock your ship there, and your escort will arrive shortly after. I will make certain your vessel is taken care of."
The sith awaits a response, then closes the communication link.
Oca whistles as Zeeroe demonstrates some bodily-horrific powers, and leans next to the camera in order to make a voiceover..
"Project Dark Array, experiment 1."
"Hypothesis: Sister Zeeroe goes fucking apeshit when noticing other Sisters."
"The subject Sister Zeeroe lost her god damn mind and went full Terminator when the hypothesized inciting variable, Sister Neuff, moved within twelve standard Planck meters. For now I'm going to assume that the subject's awareness of the inciting variable (Neuff) was a factor of it, but we can't state that yet."
"Conclusion: Sister Zeeroe goes fucking apeshit when another Sister, definitively Neuff, presumably Katre, and plausibly others are within twelve Planck meters of her person. Twenty archaic meters. 65 feet. 43 cubits."
"Follow-up experiment, if able to do so; test if awareness of inciting variable is a factor."
"Note: even after the inciting variable was removed from the scenario, the subject's aggression continues to be directed towards identified associates of her target || entities which obstructed her from the target while it was present."
He raises a hand and shoots Luffy - with a tracker bug! To find him and pull him out if he really gets pulled into some dark hell.
Then, in order to test whether the Terminator response distinguishes between "obstructed the target while it was here" or more vaguely reacts to "THIS GUY IS HITTING ME", he shoots Zeeroe, like, normally.
/\。。/\<Very well. Hadar... sen olmen.>
bwip
The Chozo craft maneuvers into the open docking bay. From it emerges Raven Beak, who is like 14 feet tall and towers over any other organic worker on the ship.
An Imperial staff approaches with a notepad to study this new intelligent species, only for him to swiftly punt them aside for no reason and walk further into the bay.
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."The Imperial flies through the air, dropping his notepad and letting out a surprised yelp. He is brought to a sudden halt in midair, his face frozen in terror. Slowly dropped to the floor by a force unseen, the man scurries away. He even forgot his notepad, how unfortunate.
Raven Beak's escort arrives a moment later, filled mostly with Heavily armed troopers
◊. At their helm was Sith Lord Ranus
◊, who walked right up to Raven Beak.
He was significantly shorter than the Chozo, looking up to Raven Beak's head.
" Shorter than I expected. Come with me."
Ranus said, turning away from Raven Beak and walking away. The squad of troopers surrounds the Chozo, lowering their blasters to the ground. When he began to move, the squad would move with him, keeping him within a small circle.
The Grip - Bridge
Raven Beak was escorted through the massive ship without so much as a word from the soldiers or the sith lord and was now stood before the door to the bridge. The circle of soldiers around him cleared, moving back onto the tram system. Lord Ranus waved the door to the bridge open and looked at Raven Beak.
" My master awaits."
Said Ranus, stepping away from the door and back onto the tram. At the command console stood Laxin, arms behind his back. He looked at Raven Beak, the crimson glow of the eyes on Laxin's helmet studying him.
The sith lord stepped away from the console, swinging his hands to his sides. The Metroid, still forced to be motionless in the air, is dragged to follow him. Laxin casts a glance at it, before coming to a stop just before Raven Beak.
"I am Laxin, Dark Lord of the sith."
He says, looking up at Raven Beak.
<If this is your idea of humor, I am unamused.> Despite his gripe, Raven Beak still follows Ranus without causing another incident.
—
<I already know who you are, Emperor. I have my own connections with another Sith.>
Raven Beak does a gentleman's bow. <Fair tidings from one conqueror to another.> He then shows off the weird letters on his cape.
<Hadar sen olmen - power is everything. The motto of the Mawkin tribe of the Chozo, of which I alone yet live. The Thoha tribe created the mahthroid as the ultimate living weapon - in our tongue, it means Ultimate Warrior. They had created the most powerful being in the cosmos, yet they tore away their own ability to feel violent intent, and thus the mahthroid were relegated to devouring parasites infesting our homeworld. It was a waste of their talents not to take things further, I hope you will agree.>
Edited by KiriK on Apr 20th 2022 at 2:50:17 PM
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."Jenna invites the other Knights in with a wave of her hand, anticipating another robot. And when it does arrive, she finds herself ready, having pulled ahead a Pulse Grenade. A dangerous tool, but with the robot distracted...
Scatter! She orders her troops, in case the Pulse Grenade is somehow thrown back. As they fire their weaponry, half going left, another going right, she lobs the grenade and hold ready a... common 9mm pistol with a tiny scope on it, so small her gloves can barely grasp it.
Hm?
Nautolan picture belongs to Bonesmarinated on twitterLaxin matches the bow from Raven Beak with his own, raising a quizzical brow beneath his helmet. Which sith was he speaking of? He had assumed if there were an informant, it would be a low-ranking Imperial.
"Your tribe and the sith share many similarities, we live by a code similar to your motto."
He says. Laxin listens to the origins of the Metroid, letting out a quiet hm when Raven Beak finishes.
"I do agree."
He replies, looking to the Metroid.
"I have noticed its growth, and my method for creating it has led to interesting developments. It is beginning to develop some connection to the dark side of the force, no doubt growing stronger by its diet of other sith."
He rests a hand on the Metroid, turning his gaze back to Raven Beak.
"Not that it is an issue, but if I release it from my hold will it attack you? Its instinctual anger toward you is... remarkably strong."
He asked.
Tropqiue
Thor is currently going for a stroll on the beach, his axe slung over his shoulder as the ocean breeze whips at his lengthy blonde hair.
Reprium
Deep within Reprium's luscious forest, Wanda
◊ sits in meditation near a waterfall, levitating a few of the rocks surrounding her.
Tropique
Thor may spot another person nearby: a blonde girl wearing a brown trenchcoat.
... wait, that's Iris. Why is she wearing something like that? It's covering her wings.
Reprium
Wanda may suddenly sense people nearby. Not in the 'people are approaching from afar' way, but rather the 'there was no sign of life a moment ago and some people seemingly popped into existence close by'.
About a second later, she'll hear said people falling out of a tree nearby, hitting the ground.
"Ow!"
"Ouch. Why'd we fall? You never fall."
"Yeah, but I also don't tend to bring people with me when I do this! Now get off of me, both of you."
... Two of those voices, the two speaking up first, may sound familiar to Wanda.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.Thor smiles upon catching sight of Iris, only to stop and raise an eyebrow upon noticing that she was wearing a trenchcoat. Putting Stormbringer away, he walks over to her.
"Um... Iris? Is there any particular reason you're donned that coat?" he inquires. "I hope nothing unfortunate has happened to your wings..."
Ending her meditation, Wanda stands up as the rocks she was lifting drop to the ground. She looks in the direction the voices were coming from, realizes how familiar two of them sounded, and teleports to their location.
Iris turns to look at Thor upon hearing his voice. She seemed to look a little glum, but she brightens up once she sees Thor, walking towards him as well.
"Thor! I'm really happy to see you!", she calls out as she does so.
At least that means she's in a better state of mind than last time Thor saw her. She does look a little hesitant when her wings are brought up though.
"... well... they're not gone, if that's what you're worrying about.", she says. She looks around for a moment before looking back at Thor.
"... there's nobody else around, right?", she then asks in a half-whisper.
Wanda will be able to see who she likely thought she'd see. Bell
◊ and Azathoth
◊ are getting up by the time she appears nearby, after which another boy
◊ gets up. This imp boy isn't someone Wanda's seen before.
"Did we lose them?", Bell asks, concerned.
"For a moment. But if we don't keep moving they'll catch up.", the boy says, sounding annoyed. Azathoth then starts looking around.
"I'm sensing someone else nearby."
Bell freezes up in fear.
"Is it Mother!?"
The insinuation also makes the boy freeze up. But Azathoth shakes his head.
"It feels more like miss Wanda than Mother."
"... Wanda Maximoff?"
The kids start looking around to try to spot her.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.Thor answers Iris with a shake of his head.
"I have no idea why that matters, but... no, I believe we're the only people here at the moment," he assures.
Wanda approaches Mara's children, offering them a smile and showing them her raised hands.
"So, you three finally managed to escape your abusive bi- I mean, monster of a mother," she says. "Good. You all deserve to be happy after everything she's put you through."
Iris sighs a little, then suddenly takes off her trenchcoat to reveal her wings. Thor will likely be taken aback by what he sees:
The feathers on the lower halves of her wings have turned into pink crystals.
"I tried to remove them, but they grow back too fast at this point.", Iris says as she spreads them out a little. "My wings are too heavy to fly with now too, so I'm forced to walk everywhere."
She looks a little more nervous now.
"I haven't been able to find that weird bird anywhere. It has my necklace and staff, and I don't know if looking for my crown is even an option. If I don't get one of my artifacts back fast, my wings may get fully covered and I won't be able to properly walk anymore from the weight. Not to mention that I don't know what I'll do if the crystals start growing over the rest of me too..."
The three now turn to her. Bell looks confused and unsure, but she doesn't look nearly as frightened of Wanda as she looks when around Mara. Which is a good thing in this regard.
Azathoth tilts his head. He's looking in Wanda's direction, but due to his blindness his eyes aren't focused on her.
"Put us through?"
"Wait, is this the woman that you told me about?", Seraphim asks Bell before Azathoth can say anything else. "Y'know, the one that actually managed to harm Mother in a meaningful way?"
"Y-yes, that's her."
"I see..."
He looks back at Wanda.
"... you look pretty cool. ... bye."
He turns around, seemingly ready to leave fast. Bell grabs his shoulder.
"Wait, where are you going?"
"If Mother sees me around one of her prominent enemies, she may just reconsider my freedom! I am not gonna stick around and wait for her to inevitably find us! Her witches are already on our trail and I doubt Mother is far behind!"
Edited by DevilPsyco on Apr 20th 2022 at 1:12:44 PM
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.<Yes.> Raven Beak tauntingly waves his fingers in front of the Metroid, which shrieks again at him.
<The Thoha knew we Mawkin would seek to control the Mahthroid, and so they programmed them to hate us. The presence of Mawkin DNA enrages them, but those with Thoha DNA can control them.>
He turns to look at Laxin. <The sole source of Thoha DNA here in the Arena... is Samus Aran. Who is also the only possible source of Mahthroid DNA.> Despite his helmet hiding all facial expressions, the look he gives Laxin is clearly inquisitive.
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."Thor looks suitably taken aback by the crystals on Iris' wings. Once the initial shock wears off, though, he places a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Iris. Loki and I are doing everything in our power to locate your artifacts, as are Callis and Amaterasu," he assures, looking into her gold eyes. "Not only that, but I've thought of potential ways to ensure that the energy within them won't corrupt you. And don't forget, I can always ask Heimdall to find both the bird and the crown, if need be."
He pulls her into a presumably much-needed hug.
"Remember, you're not alone in this."
Wanda blinks in surprise at both the children's reactions to her presence and Seraphim's attempt to outright leave.
"None of you are ever going back to Mara again. Not if I have anything to say about it," she says, her eyes ever-so-briefly flashing red. "You said her witches are somewhere in this forest, right? Well, they're going to have to go through me if they plan on capturing you."
"Yeah, I know. That's honestly the only reason I can stay relatively calm about this.", she admits, indirectly showing the trust she has in them.
She then gets hugged. She says nothing in return, but she does return the hug. She squeezes a little tighter than usual, indicating that, as Thor figured, she probably really needed this.
"You're planning to stop them?", Seraphim asks.
"W-well, if she can harm Mother she can probably protect us from those three.", Bell says.
"Wait, not ever?", Azathoth then asks, confused, after which he looks at Bell. "Didn't you say we'd only be temporarily on our own?"
"Erm-"
"For the Gods' sake, Az. Mother is going to tear you two limb from limb one day just because you happen to piss her off. Staying away from her is the only way not to get hurt. Why the hell do you think I left.", Seraphim says, seemingly alarming Bell a bit. It may allow Wanda to remember that Bell seemed intent on keeping Seraphim in the dark a bit, perhaps not to frighten him.
And it seems like the last bits of Seraphim's patience on the matter have left him, considering just how outright done with it all he sounded just now.
Azathoth raises both his eyebrows for a moment, but then looks skeptical.
"But Mother has never hurt me before!"
"Have you ever made her angry before?"
"Ser!"
"Well, no, but-"
Cue Azathoth and Bell suddenly getting caught in a magic aura, startling both of them. Seraphim jumps back.
"Well crap. Lady, now's your chance to make good on your words, because I'm sure as hell not fighting those three on my own.", Seraphim says to Wanda.
In the year 202X, all is devastation... Soon, any last shred of hope had by the saintliest optimist shall die and decay.

"A space-ship...?"
Elfilin blinks. "Heck yeah, I'm totally up for that! Spaceships are cool!"
"A wizard is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to."